William Muir

“ A curious tale is told of the rising of the Nile. The yearly flood having been long delayed, the Copts, according to custom, sought leave to cast into the river a maiden beautifully attired, or rather, as we may suppose, the effigy of such a one.2 When referred to, the Caliph inclosed this singular letter in a despatch to 'Amr:—
The Commander of the Faithful to the River Nile, greeting. If in times past thou hast risen of thine own will, then stay thy flood but if by will of Almighty God, then to Him we pray that thy waters may rise and overspread the land. ”

“ The people of 'Ain Shems, mixed Copts and Nubians, now urged the Governor of Egypt, whom the Arab writers call the Mukaukis,1 to make peace and not expose them to destruction. "What chance," they said, "have we against men that have beaten both the Chosroes and the Kaiser?" An armistice of five days was agreed upon,2 but as soon as it had expired, an action took place. 'Amr adopted the familiar plan of dividing his forces into three parts, one stationed near Heliopolis, one to the north of the Roman fortress of Babylon, and one near a place on the Nile called Tendunyas or Um Dunein. ”

“ But the life was essentially Byzantine; although the government was ever and anon interrupted by revolt and by the uprising of the native Egyptians, both among themselves, and against their foreign rulers. The vast population was provided, in unexampled profusion, with theatres, baths, and places of amusement.1 A forest of ships congregated in its safe and spacious harbour, from whence communication was maintained with all the seaports of the realm. ”

“ Hatred was embittered here, as elsewhere, by the never ceasing endeavour of the Byzantine rulers to convert the inhabitants to Orthodoxy, while the Copts held tenaciously by the Monophysite creed.2 No sooner had Egypt been evacuated by the Persians, who had occupied it for some
1 The male population alone is given at 600,000. There were 70,000 (according to others 40,000) male Jews of an age to pay the poll-tax, and 200,000 Greeks, of whom 30,000 effected their escape by sea before the siege ”

“ The Copts now began actively to take sides with the Arabs and massacre the Imperial soldiery. 'Amr's first care was to secure the Faiyum, his next to throw a bridge of boats across the Nile, and this not only facilitated the transport of his own followers, but cut the stream of fugitives from Upper Egypt, which was constantly flowing down the valley towards Alexandria. ”

“ By this victory the City of Misr (Memphis) , in which
1 This name is generally derived from the Greek , vain glorious. That it is a title, not a proper name, appears from the fact that it is used also of the governor of Egypt in the lifetime of Mohammad (Muir's Life of Mohammad, 4th ed., p. 371) . See Mrs E. L. Butcher, The Story of the Church in Egypt, vol. i., chap. xxxii. A. J. Butler, The Arab Conquest of Egypt considers it to be a nickname of Cyrus, a view which is taken for granted in the 11th ed. of the Encycl. Brit. ”